Linkfest Today

It's no secret that I believe that it is to physicians' benefit to become more active in social media, like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. In an interesting story from the New York Times, it appears that of all the specialties, plastic surgery has taken the lead.

That makes sense, of course, since the majority of what they do is not covered by insurance. With increasing competition, plastic surgeons have to aggressively market their services. That means taking the lead in so-called "e-consultations," where surgeons can evaluate patients remotely, and determine whether the doctor and patient are the right fit for each other.

This is raising some questions, including the problem of giving medical advice to a patient never before seen, and ensuring patient privacy.

There has been recent publicity on medical errors from radiation therapy. But should the doctor take the blame, even if the mistake was due to a technician error? That's a question Amy Tuteur raises in a controversial guest post.

"In total, at least 621 patients were harmed by medical errors, but
ultimately only 6% of the errors were attributable to the physicians
caring for the patients," writes Dr. Tuteur. "Many medical errors are caused by people other than doctors,
including people who are not medical professionals."

There's strong feelings on both sides of the question, as evidenced by the debate in the ensuing comments.

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